Kate Beckett is sitting in a chair at her father's beside. She is surrounded by machines beeping and pumping with computer displays indicating the patient's condition. She is not comfortable sitting there due to the all the wires and tubes connected to him. She is scared to even touch her father. Afraid she might cause a wire to become disconnected causing irreparable harm to him.
Sort of like the irreparable harm she feels she did to her relationship with Castle
Carefully she takes a hold of her dad's hand. She looks down to the hand that she is now griping tightly. The hand that she remembers always being so strong and powerful when she was a little girl. That hand that kept her from running into traffic. That hand that stopped her from putting her hand on a hot oven. The hand that would be wrapped tightly against her back when she cried in his arms. That hand that also was used, on occasion, to remind her that she had to do as she was told. Never harsh or harmful. Just enough to let her know who the parent was and who the child is.
She wishes there was also another man's hand for her to grip as well. A hand, that before the last 6 months was ALWAYS there for her to hold.
There is no way she is going to be able to just sit here and not cry. Her father is laying here in a medical induced sleep. Possibly not going to ever wake up again. That one man in her life that has always there for her since her birth, is now near death.
She knows if he does not make it then she will be totally and completely alone. For the last 6 months he has been the only person in her life.
She is wishing, now that he had not sworn him to secrecy. It she had allowed him to tell her story then she might have a chance to recover. To comeback to at least some semblance of normal life with her friends. But she made him keep her secret. Now, even if she did reveal what had happened, no one will believe her. They will think she is telling that story in a desperate attempt to regain some form of self respect
The Old Haunt has become the "Where It's At" place to be on Friday and Saturday nights. Castle choose well when he decided to purchase this failing establishment, hire new honest management and bring in good, crowd pleasing, entertainment for the weekends.
This Friday is no different. The place is crowded almost to the point of standing room only. Except for the "Reserved For Owner" table, no one else can even get in the place.
Of course Kevin and Jenny arrived first. Since they have one on the way, Jenny gets tired very easily and they usually go home a little earlier than the rest. Esposito and Lanie arrive just a minute before Rick makes his appearance.
After just a few minutes, the host guarding the door steps up to the reserved table "Mr. Castle. There is a woman out front that I do not recognize. She said she was invited by you to be here tonight"
"Tall dark hair, blue eyes?" Castle asks
"Yes sir. That is her"
"Yes. Please let her in. She is a new cop at the 12th"
"Very good, Mr. Castle. She will be in shortly"
Lanie looks at Rick with obvious fire in her eyes "Castle! What is this? A new detective? Really? " It is obvious to everyone there than Lanie is ready to put a halt to allowing a newbie into the group. But before she can finish her rant on Castle's head this striking woman appears at their table. All the men stand when she appears
"Hello" Crystal beams to the group
"Everyone this is Crystal Roberts" Rick introduces Lanie and Jenny to Crystal
Castle then tells her to please sit beside him. Once settled, he asks what she wants to drink. She asks for a glass of diet cola. She tells the group that she does not drink. Rick orders a soft drink for her.
Once everyone has been served, Castle starts the conversation with the obvious questions. All directed to the new detective on the block.
"Crystal. Are you from New York? I don't hear any local accent in your voice?"
"I was born in Albuquerque New Mexico. I'm a military brat so we traveled all over the country until I probably have an accent from every base we were stationed at."
Esposito laughs "Really? An army brat huh?"
"Yeah I am. Why do you think that's funny, detective?"
"I was special forces"
Crystal's face goes dark "OH"
Javi realizes something is not right with her concerning Special Forces so he decides to change the subject "I'm sorry Crystal if I hit a nerve. Why did you become a cop?"
She recovers quickly "No detective, it is fine. Just my first real love was with Seals Team 6 and was KIA. I'm pretty much over it now. It's just sometimes memories are powerful things that prevent us from moving on to bigger and better things when we really need to
This comment reminds Castle of how Kate's mother's case kept her from moving on to him a few years ago
She continues "Actually I wanted to become a lawyer, but I was not able to get into law school after I got my bachelor's degree in criminal justice I decided to go into law enforcement. I may try again later"
Richard Castle is sitting listening to her story thinking back to a similar tale from his former muse. In her case what stopped her was her mother's death. At least Crystal's story is personal also yet in many ways different.
Since Castle is always being the writer and having his mind open to new ideas, he suddenly realizes that she just might be a perfect avenue to let him continue his series. He just need to either change Nikki Heat's character or possible write the story as it is happening. Nikki left Rook and now Crystal has appeared to fill that void.
As the evening progresses, each of the team tells their story to the new member of the team giving her insight into their thinking and how each member fits into the bigger puzzle of solving the crime.
Crystal listens carefully to each story until they get around to Castle
She looks at Rick "So. Mr. Castle. You are not a detective?"
"No I am not. I am an author. I write mystery stories"
"Mystery stories? So do you write murder stories or what?"
"I wrote Derrick Storm and my current series is Nikki Heat"
She suddenly realizes who he is "OH MY GOSH! I did not realize who you are. Oh I am so sorry. I love your books. I tried one time to get an autograph but the line was so long, you had to leave before I got halfway thru."
"Well thank you for reading my books. If you want to bring one in to the station, I will give you your very own private signing"
"OH! Thank you" she starts to gush
Lanie is not real happy watching Rick being fawned over by the new girl on the block. As far as the medical examiner is concerned, he still belongs to Beckett and if she were here, Kate would demonstrate exactly who that is
As the group is getting ready to leave, a reporter steps up to the table. "Excuse me. I am with the Ledger. Can I get a shot of some of New York's finest relaxing after work?"
The group pulls closer together and smiles as the picture is taken
Kate Beckett is awakened by a gentle touch on her arm. She had fallen asleep in the chair beside her father's bed.
"Kate, are you awake?" A man's voice spoke softly
"What? Oh hello. OH Josh." Kate is startled by the face of her former boyfriend
"Kate. I didn't mean to startle you. I just need to talk about your dad's condition"
"You are his surgeon?"
"Yes, I was the one on call when he came in. Kate, can we go to the family room? It has more privacy there"
The two walk a short distance down the hall to the room and close the door
"Kate, you dad has three arteries blocked over 95% and one is completely blocked. One of the machines you see is a balloon pump. It is doing the heart's work so the organ can get some rest. I will be operating day after tomorrow. I want to give him the best chance. But I will also be bluntly honest he has less than a fifty-fifty chance of making it through the procedure."
This causes tears to appear again.
The doctor touches her arm again "Kate, who can I call to be here with you. Dr. Parish or one of the other police officers?"
"No Josh. Don't call them"
"It is very important you have someone with you.
She has realized more than ever how she has left her life empty when he says
"If you will give me his number I will call your boyfriend and make sure he is here. You really need someone close with you for all this"
That statement hurt the worst